Eurovision Song Contest 2011
The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following the country's victory at the 2010 contest with the song "Satellite" by Lena. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters Arbeitsgemeinschaft Rundfunkanstalten Deutschland (ARD) and Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), the contest was held at the Esprit Arena and consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May, and a final on 14 May 2011.[1] The three live shows were presented by German comedian Anke Engelke, television presenter Judith Rakers as well as former German contestant and songwriter Stefan Raab.
Forty-three countries participated in the contest, equalling the record of the 2008 edition. Four countries returned to the contest this year; Austria returned after their last participation in 2007, Hungary returned after their last participation in 2009, San Marino returned after their very first participation in 2008. Italy also returned to the contest after their last participation fourteen years earlier, in 1997.
The winner was Azerbaijan with the song "Running Scared", performed by Ell and Nikki and written by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain James Farquharson. This was Azerbaijan's first victory in the contest, after only 4 years of participation. It was also the first male-female duo to win the contest since 1963. Italy, Sweden, Ukraine and Denmark rounded out the top five. Apart from Italy, the only other "Big Five" country to make the top 10 was host nation Germany, finishing tenth. The United Kingdom followed closely behind, finishing eleventh. This was the first time since the juries were reintroduced alongside the televoting in 2009 that the winner did not place first in the jury voting; Italy was the jury winner, while Azerbaijan was the televote winner. Georgia, finishing ninth, equalled their best result from 2010.
The contest took place in Düsseldorf, the seventh-largest city in Germany. This was the first contest to take place outside the host nation's capital city since the 2004 contest in Istanbul. It was also the first Eurovision Song Contest held in Germany since German reunification, with West Germany having previously hosted the contest in 1957[3] and 1983.[4] Germany was also the first member of the "Big Five" to host the contest since the implementation of the rule in 2000 that permits the five largest contributors to the EBU – Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Italy – to qualify automatically for the grand final alongside the previous year's winner.
The Esprit Arena, a multi-functional football stadium, hosted the contest. The stadium acquired a rental period of six weeks, in order to allow construction and dismantling work in relation to the contest to be carried out.[5] The stadium is the largest venue to host the event (as of 2021). It accommodated a capacity of 38,000 for spectators during the contest, breaking the record of 35,000 set by Denmark ten years earlier.[6] Düsseldorf offered 23,000 hotel beds and 2,000 additional beds in the Düsseldorf surroundings and on ships on the River Rhine.[7]
Twenty-three cities submit official bids to the German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), in order to be the host city for the 2011 contest.[8] Eight of these cities continued to show interest in hosting the event including Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Gelsenkirchen,[9] Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt and Munich.[10] NDR announced on 21 August 2010 that four of those cities had officially applied to host the 2011 contest: Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, and Düsseldorf.[11]
